Anyone who feels threatened by the future as an entrepreneur has almost lost. Above all, the three megatrends raw material scarcity, climate change and demography will determine the future development of the economy. At the same time, scarcity must be seen as an initiator for innovation and change processes in business and the economy. “Industry 4.0” will blur industry boundaries. Digitalization will profoundly revolutionize all links in the value chain, from development, production, sales and marketing to recruiting.

From local craftsmen to medium-sized businesses to corporate groups: what change processes will the megatrend of scarcity, for example, set in motion?

How will digitization blur industry boundaries in the future?

How will new technologies have to be controlled in the future in order to benefit from the digital competitive advantage?

How can digitization be used not only to optimize processes and increase efficiency, but also to develop innovative products and services?

Will biometrics and new payment systems make physical cards superfluous?

Will the digital economy produce a single global digital currency in the future?

What will the workplace of the future look like?

Help shape the markets of the future. Submit your innovative economy project. Our jurors are already looking forward to exchanging ideas with you and your ideas.

The future belongs not only to the car or the smartphone, but also to mobility. New forms of physical mobility and mobile communication will intertwine and bring about far-reaching changes for companies and society. The private need for individual mobility in a wide variety of life situations will further accelerate this megatrend.

How, for example, must society and business react to the megatrend of “sharing instead of owning”?

Which areas of life will be changed by new concepts and solutions?

How will IT traffic control and traffic logistics systems of the future work?

What are the mobility concepts for the urban and interurban space of the future?

Will the networked security and driver assistance systems of the future transform automobiles into mobility robots?

How can the ethical and legal questions that arise be solved?

What will the mobile applications of the future look like?

Our mobile future has only just begun. Now you are in demand, submit your promising mobility idea. Our jury is looking forward to exchanging ideas with you.

Media use has changed dramatically in just a few years. Journalistic and commercial information is increasingly distributed and consumed digitally. At the same time, digitalisation opens up extensive possibilities for processing, disseminating and ultimately monetising information via novel platforms and corresponding business models. The world of digital communication channels is extremely dynamic, as new channels are constantly being added, while others are disappearing. All this places high demands on designers, media professionals and the communications industry in general.

What will media use be like in the future?

What role will new VR and AR applications play in media usage in the future?

How will information merge in the design of the future?

Will the classic screen printing workshops soon be replaced by Arduino labs?

Will, for example, “Behavioral Targeting” be used to control and personalize advertising communication, which will meet with social acceptance?

In the future, information will revolutionize human interaction through multifunctional digital systems such as those on surfaces, clothing and new products. How do you imagine advertising and/or journalistic communication in the digital space of the future? How can these almost infinite possibilities be turned into future-oriented value-added models?

The healthcare system is in a profound phase of upheaval. The main objective is to see this process of change as an opportunity for the future. Because apart from the debate about financing and cost reduction, health care will play an increasingly important role as a driver of employment and growth in the future. Health-2.0 is expected to significantly outperform even traditional economic sectors in terms of value creation. Digitalization in particular will open up numerous new opportunities for applications and business models in the future.

How, for example, can the cross-occupational requirements of future cyberphysical systems with regard to team and technology skills be met?

What influence will telemedicine and e-health, such as self-tracking and psychoinformatics for mobile medical control, have in the future?

What can meaningful Ambient Assisted Living applications look like?

How can responsible policyholders and patients be shaped under the aspect of Big Data?

What possibilities and applications are there to shape the classic patient-doctor relationship through new concepts in the future?

Which applications and solutions help people with physical disabilities to cope better with their everyday lives?

How can the significant imbalance in expenditure from diagnostics to therapy, e.g. through Consumer Health Informatics, be overcome?

How should the growing need of Health-It to exchange clinical data be met?

These are just some of the relevant questions about future technologies and mechanisms. Your courage and assertiveness are required. Be a co-shaper of the solidarity-based health system of the future as an economically important future sector that generates growth and employment. Our jurors are already looking forward to your submission.

“We basically believe that you watch TV to turn off your brain and work on the computer when you want to turn it on again.” (Steve Jobs)

Linear television is dying out and in times of Smart Watches the term Seond Screen has become obsolete. In the future, we will “netflix” and see the world in real time through the eyes of another person, for example with “Periscope”, or we, in the opposite case, become broadcasters ourselves.

What processes of change, for example, will private real-time streaming have at the economic and social levels?

How will gaming and classic TV and series content merge with (private) real-time content in the future?

On which screens will we consume content and how in the future?

What influence will the entertainment and information world of the future have on consumer and financial markets?

How will technologies interlock in the future? Which technologies will interlock in the future?

Which payment models could function as enablers?

According to Neil Postman, our perception as well as our thinking and feeling will be determined by the media. Show us your vision of entertainment and information of the future. Our jurors are already looking forward to the exchange with you.

“I have missed over 9,000 throws in my career. I lost almost 300 games. 26 times I was entrusted with the decisive throw; and I didn’t score. I have failed again and again in my life – and that is the reason for my success. (Michael Jordan)

Whether professional or amateur, the collection, management and interpretation of data has always been essential in sport. It doesn’t matter whether it’s about training analysis, training preparation, tournament preparation or simply about overcoming the inner “piggyback”. But future digital applications can also provide answers to questions of transparency and ethics.

How can sport benefit from digital systems in terms of doping and transparency?

How can wrong decisions in sport be prevented, e.g. via tracking systems, and to what extent is this desirable?

How can and must the concerns of data security and personal rights of athletes be taken into account?

How can future applications be used to form a community?

How can the sports experience for participants and spectators benefit from new technological applications and be intensified?

How can the personality and team development of the athletes profit from innovative technologies and applications?

How can the LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) trend target group be supported in achieving their own fitness and nutrition goals?

How can the current technologies, some of which are still very cost-intensive, be made accessible to mass sports, and to what extent is this even desirable?

Can classic recreational athletes also benefit from new applications?

How can clubs be supported in their socially valuable work by future technologies and applications?

“We need a new concept of education in the 21st century. Education, which means being able to ask clever questions in the future, welcoming doubts – and knowing one’s own individual talents”. (Matthias Horx)

Education and knowledge serve social and technical progress. Both make a decisive contribution to shaping our future. The social transformation towards a knowledge society seems to be progressing inexorably. The idea of “Open Educational Resources” (OER), which is already emerging as a megatrend and which will make education and knowledge globally available in the future, also speaks in favour of this.

What influence, for example, should current findings from developmental psychology and brain research have on our future education system?

How can the gap between education and work be closed?

How can all people gain permanent access to education?

What are the concepts and possibilities for the school of the future?

What influence will trends such as community-developed content have on pedagogy and didactics?

Can the gap between budgetary and didactic equipment be bridged by new “Back to the Roots” hardware such as Raspberry Pi?

The education-relevant questions of the future will be manifold. Show us how you believe that education should work in the future. Our jurors are already looking forward to your submission.

“Globalization is the basic impulse of mankind. We are wanderers, we are traders, we are networkers. We are curious about other people. Anyone who wants to abolish or block this impulse ends up in regression.” (Matthias Horx)

The Internet is currently an important part of humanity and is controlled and censored in many countries, or at least an attempt is being made to do so. Nevertheless, the future knowledge society also needs local and cross-border rules in order to function peacefully.
Society also faces great challenges and changes offline, which it wants to master. For example, society has promoted the reunification of Germany and is intensively concerned with helping people from poorer countries.

How, for example, can the cross-professional requirements of future cyberphysical systems with regard to team and technology skills be met?

What social and legal organisational structures will we need in the future in order to be able to give different forms of society a peaceful home in the global digital space?

How will future innovation and production processes change our private and professional world?

Do we need a new digital morality?

With which social processes can the social discrepancy between industrialized and developing countries be reduced?

What needs to be created to make a country’s society or the global population happy and content?

How will the sociology of the digital space of the future function and how will society evolve in coexistence? Share your ideas with our expert jurors. We are looking forward to your submission.

Example 1: Project “Ministerium für Glück” from the year 2014
Example 2: Project “VIVI” from the year 2016Show us what the future holds!

“Many dream of intelligent refrigerators, clothes or cars. I, on the other hand, want technology that is reliably stupid enough to enable me to be more creative. (Matthias Horx)

The suppression of the computer by the “Internet of Things” seems to be unstoppable. More and more “intelligent” objects are being brought online. The urban and private space will be equipped with sensors in a variety of ways. We will interact with our Smart Home and Smart City via APIs and APPs. The megatrends of scarcity of raw materials, climate change and demographics will thus become manageable.

Will the legendary Internet refrigerator become a killer application after all?

What makes a smart gadget that is able to assert itself on the market?

Is the idea of Smart Living only something for rich industrial countries or are there opportunities for so-called developing countries?

Will there be international IT standards in the future or will every manufacturer operate with its own isolated solutions?

What does the big hyperlocal concept for the Smart City and Smart Home of the future look like?

How can it be ensured that the security of Smart-It is guaranteed?

How will Big Data and Smart Home/Smart City change our lifestyle?

How much data collection can there be without losing social acceptance?

The third industrial revolution is in full swing. Open hardware and 3D printers are changing the world. Disruptive innovations are revolutionizing entire branches of industry. The Internet of Things is making the digitalization of the world of work ever more profound and rapid.

How, for example, will new technologies affect current and future products and their markets?

Which technologies will change the jobs of the future?

Which AR and VR applications will we use?

Which technologies will revolutionize the smartphones and tablets of the future?

What will the communication networks of the future look like?

How will the interaction between man and machine develop, e.g. through current tech trends such as sensor fusion and gesture recognition?

How will future innovation and production processes change our world?

As a member of Generation Y, you play a leading role in the development of future technologies, and it is up to you to help shape the future. Our jurors are looking forward to your submission.

“The artist was always fully integrated into society, but not into the society of his time, but into that of the future.” (Ernesto Cardenal)

Creativity is perhaps one of the most important factors that has led to humanization and civilization. From the first drawings in the caves of Nerja to the development of language and Beuys’ Fettecke. Art and culture bring about processes of change and enable us to anticipate and overcome future social, technical and economic challenges.

How will art and culture influence the future?

How will the future influence our art and culture?

How can and must art and culture set processes of change in motion?

What influence will the interactions between digital technologies and art/culture have on our future society?

Think the unthinkable. We are looking for extraordinary, inspiring ideas. Put your finger in the wound. Make the jury think, laugh and cry with your project.

Big data and privacy, how will they go together in the future? One thing is already certain today: without Big Data, the hope of ever finding the God particle would be unthinkable for science alone. Just as a simple search query on Google would be unthinkable. Fortunately, the liberal effect of digitalization currently seems to outweigh the dangers. However, this development will raise questions in the future:

How, for example, can Big Data contribute in the future to promoting individual self-determination, increasing democratic participation and, last but not least, increasing prosperity?

How can national, European and global digital space be shaped so that we do not become transparent people?

Is Zuckerberg right, at least in part, when he says: “The era of privacy is over”?

Is the “right to oblivion” valid in Europe an anachronism?

Will the trend to take a break from the digital world in “untrackable zones” and cultivate one’s own off-line identity widen?

How does Big Data optimize economic and social processes?

Will there be a globally uniform code of conduct for location and privacy in the future and what could it look like?

How can we feel safer again in the digital space and be protected against crime?

How will the digital space of the future work? In the economic, social and/or democratic sense. Our jurors are looking forward to your ideas and to your submission.

“The state is also responsible for protecting the natural foundations of life for future generations …” (Basic Law, Article 20 A)

In the future, the topic of sustainability will no longer be “only” about the so-called green conscience. For example, investors have long since focused firmly on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and include ecological and social aspects in their investment decisions. This is another reason why the megatrend of sustainability should no longer be seen as an obstacle to economic development, but rather as a unique selling point and opportunity for future markets.

How can consumer expectations, e.g. in e-commerce, after Same Day Delivery, be met in a sustainable way in the future?

How can production processes save valuable resources in the future through decentralization?

Will energy generation be decentralized in the sense of sustainability in the future?

How can the supply of drinking water and food be ensured for the constantly growing world population?

What processes of change must take place in industrial food production in order to regain consumer confidence?

What measures must be taken to promote a sustainable culture of innovation?

How can sustainable product lifecycle conserve resources and significantly reduce the impact on the environment?

These are just some of the pressing questions for the future. Show us your sustainable idea for the future with the decisive competitive advantage for the markets of the future. Our jury is looking forward to seeing you and your project.

“It’s really hard to design products according to focus groups. People often don’t know what they want until you show them.” (Steve Jobs)

Our (individual) lifestyle is what places us in our environment. This goes hand in hand with corresponding consumer behavior and the right lifestyle products. It is often only new technologies that make it possible to fulfill long-cherished consumer wishes or even awaken them.
Apple’s smartphone, for example, was not launched on the market until 2007(!), but has set in motion far-reaching economic and social change processes in a very short space of time. The “LOHAS” (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) target group has now been identified and researched for the future.

What functionalities, for example, will Wearebles have in the future?

How can the wearables of the future be transformed from niche to mass products, e.g. through cooperation between tech and fashion companies?

How will the trend towards self-tracking develop in the future?

How will we shop and connect the online and real worlds in the future?

What will the clothing of the future look like?

How should we deal with the emerging counter-trend of wanting to remain digitally unrecognized?

What are the lifestyle products of the future?

Lifestyle is a global phenomenon and has a strong dynamic effect on markets and economies. Think in new directions, surprise our jurors with your lifestyle idea of the future.

In recent years in particular, the need for people to move closer to nature has grown. In addition to the major global issues of our time, more sustainable thinking is gaining ground in people’s minds with regard to climate and global warming. Back to nature, more in line with the needs that people are increasingly missing in a high-tech world. Irrespective of this, every day the economy learns more and more to copy materials and properties developed over millions of years from nature and to integrate them into our everyday lives. Bionics produces the actual breathtaking new discoveries that could never have been developed by man without the evolutionary developments of nature.

What will the models for a connection between man and nature look like in the future?

Where can we learn from nature?

What are the possibilities for humans to become even more involved with nature?

“Renewable energies will merge with the Internet to form the powerful new infrastructure of a Third Industrial Revolution (DIR) that will change the whole world. (Jeremy Rifkin)

The processes of change that have become necessary as a result of climate change and the transformation of energy systems present our social and economic system with enormous challenges and will result in far-reaching changes in mentality. While the traditional energy suppliers and the Federal Network Agency are still advertising the expansion of the extra-high voltage network and are trying to appease affected citizens, for example by means of supposedly ecological route management, a completely new development has long been emerging. The possibility of making increasingly fine-grained predictions of load profiles makes it possible: in future, local smart micro grids in conjunction with PeerEnergyClouds will drastically transform the energy market. The accompanying increase in grid stability will significantly reduce the need to expand supra-regional power grids at high cost.

Supra-regional power grids and ecological route management – is that even possible?

Low-cost smart micro-grid cloud services or centralised energy generation: how can sustainable supply security be guaranteed in times of energy turnaround and climate change?

How can fine-granular measurement data management be used to ensure a suitable information basis for creating load profiles and load profile forecasts so that future resilient holare systems can be operated stably, even under critical grid conditions?

How will future resilient polynetworks have to be constructed to be able to react to the volatility of the energy supply of decentralized renewable energy sources as well as to unforeseeable events such as cyber attacks?

Are the much-discussed miniature nuclear power plants a megatrend or a megaflop?

Our jury is looking forward to your innovative contribution to solving the energy problems of the Third Industrial Revolution.